Essay Questions

What is the figurative implication of the Skeleton’s imagery? - “Mametz Wood”?

The skeletons characterize poignant memories. Sheers observes, “Their skeletons paused mid dance-macabre/In boots that outlasted them,/Their socketed heads tilted back at an angle/And their jaws, those that have them, dropped open./As if the notes they had sung Have only now, with this unearthing,/Slipped from their absent tongues.” The imagery is ironic for it depicts the skeletons as live beings that could dance, sing, open jaws and tilt heads. The ironic imagery immortalizes the wretched past that the skeletons embody.

How does nature lament the fall of light? - “The Light Fell”

Sheers recalls, “The sun riding slow, burnishing/For a minute, no more, the tops of the hills/Against a curtain of cloud, ashen with rain and snow./Or why it was then the deer chose to show their faces,/Lift their heads from gazing, step near, pause.” Clearly, the falling of light disturbs nature. The sun’s slowness specifies that it is wearied by the demise described in “The Light Fell.” The “ashen rain and snow” unveil the coldness that trails death. The deer takes a break from grazing to weep alongside the other nature. The cooperative responsiveness of nature accentuates the resilient correlation between Mother Nature and existence.